The Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party of Palestine ( he, מִפְלֶגֶת פּוֹעָלִים הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר בְּאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל ''Mifleget Poalim Hashomer Hatzair be'Eretz Yisrael'') was a

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

- Zionist political party in the British Mandate of Palestine, connected to the

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the group ...

movement.

History

At the time of its foundation, in 1946, the party had around 10,000 members, two-thirds of whom hailed from the Kibbutz Artzi movement. The remainder came from the urban-based Socialist League of Palestine, which was dissolved into the party. The Hashomer Hatzair movement had positioned itself politically between the moderate mainstream Mapai and the radical communists since the 1920s. The movement had however been reluctant to form a political party, since its leaders had felt that entering into party politics could push the movement into ideological deviations. The movement had tried to seek unity with Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda before forming a party of its own, but those merger talks had failed as the other parties rejected the bi-nationalist positions of Hashomer Hatzair. In contrast with Mapai, the main Labour Zionist party in Palestine at the time, the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party put heavier emphasis on

class struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

. The party could not achieve unity in action with the Communist Party, as the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party supported ''

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

'' whilst the communists had ambiguous positions on the issue. The Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party was the sole Zionist political organization in Palestine at the time that recognized the national rights of the Palestinian Arabs. The party advocated a

bi-national state The one-state solution, sometimes also called a bi-national state, is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, according to which one state must be established between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. Proponen ...

, to be shared between Jews and Arabs. The party was repeatedly criticized by other Zionist groups for their bi-national position, accusing the party of breaking the united Zionist front. The party opposed partitioning Palestine, instead preferring converting the British Mandate into an international trusteeship. In the longer perspective, a 'Palestinian Commonwealth' with Jewish majority would be established. The party maintained links with Ihud, a small circle of Jewish intellectuals who shared the bi-national vision of the party. Beinin, Joel. ''Was the Red Flag Flying There?: Marxist Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in Egypt and Israel, 1948–1965''.

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

: University of California Press, 1990. pp. 27–28 In 1948 the party merged with

Ahdut HaAvoda-Poalei Zion Ahdut HaAvoda ( he, אַחְדוּת הַעֲבוֹדָה, lit. ''Labour Unity'') was the name used by a series of political parties. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period ...

, forming the United Workers Party (MAPAM). Beinin, Joel. ''Was the Red Flag Flying There?: Marxist Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in Egypt and Israel, 1948–1965''.

: University of California Press, 1990. pp. 26–27 The party's newspaper was ''

Al HaMishmar ''Al HaMishmar'' ( he, על המשמר, ''On Guard'') was a daily newspaper published in Mandatory Palestine and Israel between 1943 and 1995. The paper was owned by, and affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair as well as the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Pa ...

'' which subsequently transferred its affiliation to MAPAM.

History

References

Further reading